Judges expose scheme to frame innocent student
The Cyprus Court of Appeal has increased sentences in a serious drug conspiracy case, confirming the gravity of a plot that aimed to falsely incriminate an innocent person. The ruling partly upheld the Attorney General’s appeals and imposed harsher penalties on the main accused.
Multiple defendants involved
The case involved four defendants. The primary accused, Defendant 1, faced charges including conspiracy to cause harm, illegal possession of Class A drugs, threats, providing false information to the police, and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
Defendant 2 admitted some charges, prompting the court to suspend proceedings on the rest. Defendant 4 was acquitted at an intermediate stage due to insufficient evidence. The trial continued in full only for Defendants 1 and 3, both found guilty on all counts except one.
Plot details
The Court found that the case stemmed from a personal dispute: a young student had a romantic relationship with the daughter of Defendant 2, which she opposed. Defendant 2 conspired with Defendant 1 to harm the student, enlisting Defendant 3 to place drugs in the student’s car and alert the police. During a stop, authorities discovered 43 packets of cocaine weighing 19.39 grams, carefully hidden.
Police arrested the innocent student, detaining him for eight days, even though he had no connection to the drugs. The Court of Appeal described the defendants’ actions as “malicious to the highest degree,” putting the freedom and future of an innocent person at risk over a trivial matter.
Court rulings on charges and sentences
The Court confirmed Defendant 1’s acquittal on money laundering charges because no independent evidence linked him to the disputed €10,000. The appeal on this point failed.
However, the Court found that the original sentences did not match the severity of the crimes. The cocaine’s purpose was not personal use or sale but to frame an innocent person, making the acts extremely dangerous to the legal system.
Harsher sentences imposed
The Court highlighted Defendant 1’s central role in planning and directing the scheme. It increased his sentences to 18 months for conspiracy to cause harm, 3.5 years for possession of Class A drugs, and 18 months for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. All sentences will run concurrently, recognising that the offences formed a single criminal plan.
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